April 7, 1861

Lincoln Cabinet - 1861

First Confederate Cabinet - 1861

April 6, 1861

Coats of Arms of the Several States of the Union - from Harper's Weekly (April 1861)

Scenes in Virginia - from Harper's Weekly (April 1861)

April 5, 1861

A soldier from Georgia signed this enlistment oath to serve in the Army of the State of Georgia for three years.

Five Myths About Why The South Seceded  - The Washington Post, April 5, 2011

Faces of the Civil War - the Washington Post, April 5, 2011: "The last full Measure: Civil War Photographs from the Liljenquist Family Collection," an exhibit opening at the Library of Congress on April 12, offers a haunting view of the Civil War generation through 400 period photographs.

April 4, 1861

The Virginia Convention rejects a motion to secede by a vote of 90 to 45.

April 3, 1861

Abraham Lincoln, President - USA, 1861

 Jefferson Davis, President - CSA, 1861

Robert E. Lee, before his command of The Army of Northern Virginia

April 2, 1861

From The Daily Virginian:

"One of the great arguments - indeed the chief cause assigned by those of our Southern fellow-citizens who favor Disunion - is, that we are two distinct people, having different systems of labor, and cannot, therefore, live under one government."

 South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens

(Left) Brigadier  General P.G.T. Beauregard - Commander, CSA, Charleston, SC
(Right) Major Robert Anderson, Commander, Federal forces at Fort Sumter

April 1, 1861

Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor

New York times article: How Slavery Really Ended in America

Fort Monroe, Virginia, 19th century